


The Wolf In The Elevator

by for_the_love_of_wolves



Series: Steter Week 2020 [5]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Claustrophobia, Established Relationship, Full Shift Werewolves, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Phobias, Wolf Peter Hale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:42:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25654606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/for_the_love_of_wolves/pseuds/for_the_love_of_wolves
Summary: Stiles and Peter get stuck in a malfunctioning elevator. Peter has claustrophobia and panics so much that he turns into a wolf. Stiles has no idea how he's supposed to explain this to the firefighters.
Relationships: Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Steter Week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1855330
Comments: 6
Kudos: 319
Collections: Steter Week 2020





	The Wolf In The Elevator

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Steter Week Day Seven: Free Day. And for Teen Wolf Bingo, Square: "Phobias"

“It’s okay,” Stiles murmurs, barely audible over the constant high-pitched whining echoing in the elevator. “I’ve got you.” 

He runs his hand through thick grey fur rhythmically, whispering sweet nonsense. He doesn’t know if it helps much. 

“Stiles? Are you still there?” Stiles flinches. Oh. He almost forgot he has put Scott on speaker. Stiles picks up his phone and clears his throat. “Yeah. I'm still here. It's not like I could go anywhere. What do you think, how much longer is it going to take?” 

“I don’t know, dude. Maybe half an hour?"

Shit. Stiles briefly closes his eyes. Of course. Of course the elevator had to stop in the middle of two floors. God. “You or Derek can’t just pull the elevator up, right?” He asks without much hope. 

“Nah. Firefighters are already here and working. We can only wait and watch. Sorry.” A pause. Then: “Stiles … What’s that noise?” 

Stiles tries to suppress the hysterical laugh that wants to bubble up his throat. “My boyfriend.”  
  
“What?!” 

“My boyfriend, Scott. Peter is in here with me and he panicked and turned into a fucking wolf.” Stiles grimaces when Peter licks his jaw - cold tongue and slobber, ugh - and whines again, louder. 

“Dude.” 

“I _know_ , Scott.”

“How am I supposed to explain to the firefighters that there’s a wolf with you in the elevator?”  
  
“Jesus, tell them it’s a dog.”  
  
“Peter doesn’t look like a dog, Stiles. Derek can pass as a huge dark dog in his wolf form, but Peter …”

“I know, I know.” Peter looks like the classic huge grey wolf you would find as example in a Wikipedia article. Stiles groans. Oh God. They're going to call Animal Control ... _Again._

“You have to get him to shift back,” Scott says completely serious and Stiles wants to strangle him. 

“If he shifts, he’s going to be _naked_ , Scott,” he says. God. He’s so tired. Peter looks up at him with wide desperate, very yellow wolf eyes and sniffles. Then he starts to gnaw at Stiles’ shoe. Stiles closes his eyes. 

There’s a very long moment of silence. Apparently, Scott has to process the new information first. Finally, he says, “Okay, but dude, naked is better than a wolf.” 

“Are you serious?! How am I going to explain _that_? They’re going to think that we … You know.” 

“Well. Uh. People do things like that, Stiles. They don’t turn into giant wolves though.” Now, Scott sounds like he's trying hard to keep himself from laughing.   
  
“I hate you.” Stiles ends the call. Scott is going on his nerves. This situation is bad enough. Stiles doesn’t like small spaces much either. Not, when he can't escape them. His throat has been feeling tight for at least half an hour now. And Peter … Well, Peter completely lost his mind. He hates to be trapped. He refuses to enter a plane, even the subway is difficult. And before they got together, Peter didn’t even use the elevator. 

“I’m a wolf,” he used to tell Stiles. “I can walk the steps without sweating, so why should I take an elevator, like fat people do?” 

Yeah. That was Peter. 

“You’re not using the elevator because of your claustrophobia,” Stiles pointed out. “You're avoiding the elevator because you’re scared.”

Peter didn’t talk to him for three hours. But then, he admitted Stiles was right. And agreed to take the elevator together with Stiles, to battle his demons. It was something they both did. Stiles’ therapist told him to face his fears instead of always running away, and he tried to pass that on to Peter. They both have gone through a tremendous amount of trauma and helped each other dealing with it. 

In the elevator, Peter started to sweat and tremble, his eyes wide and unseeing, as he stood tense in the elevator like he wanted to flee. Stiles had his hand on Peter’s back. Just a comforting pressure. “You’re doing so good,” he told Peter and if it was anyone else who said that, Peter would have snapped. But it was Stiles who knew Peter and his mind better than anyone else by now, so Peter had only closed his eyes and tried to match his breaths to Stiles’. 

When the elevator stopped with a little thud, Peter startled violently. As soon as the door opened, he was out, exhaling heavily and looking relieved. “We did it,” Stiles said and grinned. And Peter smiled timidly at him, saying, “Yes. Thank you, Stiles.”  
  
Later, when they were comfortable on Peter’s couch, watching a movie - or half watching it, because they were busy otherwise - Peter said, “It’s stupid to be so scared of elevators. They don’t even have to do anything with fire …” 

Stiles shook his head. “It’s about being trapped. You were trapped in the fire, you couldn’t run out and escape. And it was traumatizing. So now, you’re scared to experience this situation again.” 

Peter hummed and glanced at him. “You really are my part-time shrink, aren’t you.”  
  
Stiles huffed and nudged him playfully.

Peter didn’t always take the elevator, but he tried now and then. When Stiles was there. And now, this happened.

Now, the stupid elevator decided to malfunction and they’re stuck. 

When Peter realized what happened, he started to hyperventilate and slam against the wall and Stiles had to try to calm him down while also trying not to panic himself. He got more desperate with every passing second. Peter was _gone_. His eyes were seeing through Stiles and his whole body was trembling. His eyes started to flash supernatural blue and his claws came out, scratching at his own skin. “Peter,” Stiles said desperately, and in front of his shocked eyes, Peter just … He noped out. Turned into a wolf. Full shift. In an elevator. _Fuck_ , was the only thing Stiles could think at that moment. 

He sat down on the floor and hugged the whining mass of fur pressing against him, while fishing out his phone and frantically calling Scott. “Hey. Hey, we … uh, we have kind of a situation here,” he said and Peter started to chew on his free hand. "Stiles?" Scott asked, sounding worried. “Help,” Stiles said weakly. 

Scott called firefighters and Derek. He stayed on the phone with Stiles and now, it apparently is going to take a long while until they can leave this damn thing.  
  
Stiles is so fucking sorry. He is the reason Peter is trapped in here in the first place. He scratches between the wolf’s ears and sighs. “I’m so sorry. After we’re out of here, I’m going to do anything to make you feel better, I promise. How about a massage? That would be nice right? Peter … You need to turn back to human for me. You can’t stay like this.” 

Peter continues whining. He presses closer to Stiles and his tail slaps the floor furiously. 

“I know the wolf is protecting you from the fear you’re feeling in here, but … I’m here, Peter. I’m here and nothing is going to happen to you, I promise. It’s just a malfunction. We just have to wait, until they’re going to get us out. You’re safe with me. Please ... “ He takes the wolf’s huge head in both his hands and make him look up at him. “Please shift back. We can talk and kiss until they’re done. Hey, we can make the best of this situation, like we always do, right?” He says, smiling. 

The wolf stares. His eyes flash blue briefly, then turn back to yellow. He licks Stiles’ face and Stiles sighs at the smell, trying to breath through his mouth. He leans his forehead against Peter’s, drowning a bit in the feeling of warm fur … and then he feels it. The fur is disappearing. He exhales shakily in relief and watches as his boyfriend’s body turns back to human in remarkable speed. 

“Stiles,” Peter says and his voice almost breaks. 

“I know,” Stiles says and hugs him close. Peter shivers and his arms wrap around Stiles, hands moving over his back restlessly. “It’s going to be alright. They’re going to get us out in no time. Scott and Derek are here too," Stiles adds.  
  
Peter doesn’t say anything. But his breaths get slower and his body relaxes the tiniest bit, so Stiles just keeps talking. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I’m sorry, you’re in here because of me. Because I wanted us to battle the demons. It's my fault you're trapped again ..."

“And you’re right,” Peter tells him, his voice shaky but clear. “You’re right, we shouldn’t run away all the time. I panicked, but now, I’m better. Because of you. Because of what you said to me. I trust you with my life. And you told me it’s safe, so I believe you. We’re defeating the fear. That’s so much better than running away all the time.” 

Stiles has to keep himself from tearing up a bit. He smiles and kisses Peter’s forehead. “Yeah. That’s better.” 

Time passes faster from then. They talk and even laugh a little at the situation at one point. Finally, there’s a noise above them and a firefighter looks in, his mouth opening but the words getting stuck in his throat apparently, at the sight. Peter begins to chuckle, not even trying to hide anything, and Stiles has kind of a blackout, forgetting everything he wanted to say to explain _this._

But well, the most important thing is, that they’re fine. And they are.

**Author's Note:**

> I always love to hear what you are thinking about the story! ❤
> 
> Say hi on [Tumblr](https://for-the-love-of-wolves.tumblr.com/)  
> :)


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